Be Clear on Cancer Evaluation

Be Clear on Cancer is a Public Health England programme of activity to raise awareness of the importance of an early diagnosis of cancer and to encourage people to see their GP sooner. The programme is delivered in partnership with NHS England, Department of Health and Cancer Research UK with input from clinical and academic partners.

The majority of campaigns target lower socioeconomic groups, who are less likely to visit their GP, as well as people aged over 50 years, who have a greater risk of developing cancer. The campaigns use multiple media channels with simple messages to raise awareness of the potential signs and symptoms of cancer to encourage people to visit their GP promptly, for a greater chance of an earlier diagnosis.

Be Clear on Cancer campaigns are typically active for around six weeks and are mostly tested locally and regionally before being rolled out nationally if proven to be effective. NCRAS evaluate the likely impact of the campaigns using a number of different metrics reflecting key points in the patient pathway. The findings are presented as individual metric summaries and subsequently as final evaluation reports. These can be downloaded when available from the tables below.

Evaluation measures include: public awareness of key campaign messages, GP attendances, urgent GP referrals, diagnostic tests, incidence, stage at diagnosis and survival, as well as bespoke campaign specific metrics. Analyses by age, sex and socioeconomic status allow us to understand where the campaigns may have had an impact and whether they are reaching the target audience.